Quantity and Quality: Breaking down the next generation of Red Sox pitchers

Thursday

Feb 27, 2014 at 11:41 AM

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In the spring of 2012, the Red Sox were trying to transition both Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront into their starting rotation. Behind those two, Boston’s starting depth was comprised of non-roster veteran invitees — pitchers such a

By TIM BRITTON

FORT MYERS, Fla. — In the spring of 2012, the Red Sox were trying to transition both Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront into their starting rotation. Behind those two, Boston’s starting depth was comprised of non-roster veteran invitees — pitchers such as Aaron Cook, Ross Ohlendorf and Vicente Padilla.

The upper levels of the Red Sox system were bereft of pitching prospects who could make an impact.

Much has changed — obviously — in the intervening time. Perhaps the most remarkable development over that stretch, though, has been the emergence of a wealth of young pitching on Boston’s farm. The Red Sox have a stable rotation going into the season barring injury, and they should have a set rotation at Pawtucket as well, full of pitchers capable of contributing in the majors this season.

As this next generation of Sox pitchers gets to strut its stuff this spring, here’s a rundown of where they all stand:

RHP Brandon Workman, 25

Workman is the most advanced and most major-league ready of any of these pitching prospects, having proven himself capable in the big leagues in 2013. He excelled in three starts (2.45 ERA) and settled into a bullpen role by September. He tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings in the postseason, and manager John Farrell has a tremendous amount of confidence in Workman already.

Workman’s ceiling as a major-league starter doesn’t appear as high as that of several other names on this list. However, he’s closer to the majors and possesses the body to be a big-league innings eater in the back half of a rotation. The Red Sox came away impressed with his stuff and poise out of the bullpen last season, and that may be where he eventually ends up.

Although he will probably begin the season in the Pawtucket rotation, Workman is likely the first of this group to earn a call-up to the majors in 2014.

“I’m still going to go out there whenever they tell me and throw the best I can whatever role it is,” Workman said. “That’s all I can control and that’s all I’m going to worry about.”

LHP Drake Britton, 24

Britton essentially made the jump from Double-A starter to big-league reliever in the middle of last season, as he received just one start in Pawtucket between promotions. He was excellent in his first several outings in the majors, holding opponents scoreless for his first nine innings. He labored a bit after that, allowing nine earned runs in his final dozen innings. However, he still possesses an impressive fastball/slider repertoire that could play up the more he pitches out of the pen.

Britton will be stretched out to some extent this spring, but his likeliest landing spot in April is the Pawtucket bullpen.

“I don’t want to limit myself to just a reliever role,” he said. “If that’s my role and that’s where I fit in best, that’s what I’m going to do.”

RHP Allen Webster, 24

Here’s the thing about Webster: If he had never pitched in the majors last season, you’d be a lot more excited about him. Webster’s seven major-league starts didn’t go well — his ERA exceeded eight — but he actually turned in a terrific year in his first exposure to Triple-A. (Remember, Webster hadn’t been above Double-A before last spring.) He posted a 3.60 ERA in 21 starts for Pawtucket, and that’s despite a long bout with his fastball command over the summer.

That remains the key issue for Webster.

“It’s all about direction,” Pawtucket pitching coach Rich Sauveur said. “It’s all about staying back over the rubber and then being able to get your arm through. It’s not as simple as it sounds because if it was, it would have been fixed. It’s a matter of him taking to what we say with his mechanics and adjusting.”

If Webster can corral his fastball, his stuff is as good as that of anybody in the system. His fastball can touch 98 with sink, a devastating pitch he unleashed with some consistency during an impressive spring training last year.

“I don’t think he’ll ever get overlooked,” said Sauveur. “That kid is going to help Boston this year at some point.”

RHP Rubby De La Rosa, 24

De La Rosa was subject to innings restrictions all last season, his first back from Tommy John surgery, and he bounced between the rotation and the bullpen late in the year. While De La Rosa has the stuff to be a major-league starter — Sauveur mentioned four average to plus pitches — his quickest path to the bigs is probably through the bullpen.

It’s not clear what his role will be early in the season, but De La Rosa is just excited to be restriction-free.

“I’m happy, not about my innings but about my arm,” he said. “I feel comfortable; I feel like there’s no problem.”

De La Rosa’s biggest obstacle may involve his occasional lapses in focus, which lead to big innings and hit-or-miss outings. He had an 11-start stretch last season at Pawtucket with an 0.74 ERA. In his six starts immediately after that, his ERA exceeded nine, including one game in which he allowed six runs while retiring one batter.

“The kid can pitch,” Sauveur said. “He needs to benefit from his mistakes. He needs to correct those instead of just going out and throwing. He needs to pitch. It’s just a matter of him putting two and two together.”

RHP Anthony Ranaudo, 24

Ranaudo rebounded from the proverbial lost year in 2012, when injuries limited him to nine ineffective starts. In 2013, the tall right-hander compiled a 2.96 ERA between Portland (19 starts) and Pawtucket (six games), reaching 140 innings on the season.

Ranaudo’s money pitch is his curveball, which might be the best hook in the system. Pitching coaches throughout the organization rave about his makeup as much as his arsenal on the mound.

“There’s a cockiness about him, but he’s very positive about what he’s doing,” said Sauveur. “When he did not execute things, he’d beat himself up a little bit, and he worked on correcting those mistakes. That’s why he had success.”

“He’s a tireless worker,” Portland pitching coach Bob Kipper said. “There’s a reason why he had such a turnaround season last year, and it’s because he made it happen.”

RHP Matt Barnes, 23

On the surface, Barnes took a step back statistically in 2013, going 6-10 with a 4.13 ERA in 25 starts, all but one of which came at Portland. At the same time, he struck out 142 men in 113 1/3 innings, and he did that largely off the strength of his fastball.

Whenever Farrell is asked what he looks for most in a young pitcher, he brings up the ability to pitch off the fastball. It’s not just fastball command, but also the ability to get swings-and-misses on the old No. 1. That’s Barnes’ greatest asset.

Barnes hasn’t fully developed his curveball or his changeup, but he pitches with his fastball extremely well for someone who doesn’t throw in the high 90s. He can locate it to both sides and generate swings-and-misses, suggesting that he can be a monster if he develops those offspeed pitches to go along with it.

Kipper talked up the fastball’s late life and deception, and he liked the direction Barnes was moving in with his curveball. The Portland pitching coach thinks the downs Barnes experienced in 2013 will serve him well long-term.

“He really started to piece some things together,” Kipper said. “[He showed] an ability to not become overwhelmed with failure but to embrace it and learn from it and figure out what parts of his game he needed to improve on to make himself a major-league pitcher one day soon.”

Since Barnes is not yet on the 40-man roster, he’s further behind on the hierarchy for a potential promotion in 2014.

LHP Henry Owens, 21

Nobody in the organization had a more dominant season than Owens, who allowed 84 hits in 135 innings between High-A Salem (20 starts) and Portland (six starts). On three different occasions last season, Owens threw at least five no-hit innings in a start, including back-to-back games for Salem in July. (He ended up going 19 1/3 innings between hits allowed.)

Owens’ lanky frame means a fastball that lives around 90-91 plays up big-time.

“The first quality of his fastball is his ability to create angle,” explained Kipper. “He’s a 6-foot-7 guy, and when he works over the rubber long enough, he puts himself in position to create a steep angle. When he stays in his delivery, there’s a level of deception involved. Hitters see the baseball late; the ball has late life and late carry through the strike zone.”

Owens’ fastball is further complemented by a plus changeup that Kipper called “beyond his years.” The coach would like to see Owens mix it in less predictably this season. Owens’ curveball lags behind a little at this point.

“He’s a 21-year-old kid and the makeup is really through the roof,” Kipper said. “He really has an ability to sense things; he’s got good feel for pitching. He’s a really good student of the game. He watches baseball, not only in the dugout, but he’s watching swings, he’s watching the reaction hitters have to pitches when he’s on the mound. There’s a lot to like there.”